If baking, preheat oven to 400F.
Boil the potatoes until knife inserts easily; drain and mash the
potatoes. Set aside.
Melt butter in large skillet, add cabbage, onion and cook until
soft, but not browned. Stir in chives. Add mashed potatoes. Season
with salt and pepper.
Turn into buttered pie plate or individual ramekins, sprinkle with
grated cheese, and brown under broiler or bake at 400 degrees for 10
minutes.

In a large, deep pot over medium heat, bring the chicken stock or
water to a rolling boil. Sprinkle in the rice and a pinch of salt,
then lower the heat. Cover and steam for 20 minutes. Gradually add
the squash, beans, peppers, and corn, stir well. Cover and
steam for an additional 20 minutes. While this mixture cooks, warm
the oil in a medium cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add the
garlic and onions, stirring briskly and cooking for about 5 minutes
until garlic and onions are just glistening and translucent, but not
brown. Add the remaining seasonings, stir thoroughly and remove from
the heat. Stirring thoroughly, add these ingredients to the steaming
rice and balance the seasonings and liquids. Steam for a final 5
minutes, covered. Fluff and serve.

In Dutch oven, brown roast on all sides in oil. Add pepper to taste.
Combine remaining ingredients, except flour, and pour over pot
roast. Cover and bake 3 to 4 hours at 300. Pour off liquid and
measure. Mix a smooth paste of flour and water, measuring 2 tbsp. of
water and 1 1/2 tbsp. of flour for each cup of liquid. Gradually add
hot liquid, stirring constantly and cook until thickened. Correct
seasoning.

Oh yum! Rumbledethumps is delicious! I'll have to try some of the other ones!

Around St. Patrick's day I made some colcannon-ish thing that was amazing. I don't remember the recipe I was going off but I do remember what I did. I boiled potatoes (for mashed potatoes) and at the same time saut馥d a couple shallots, an onion, three leeks and kale in butter (about three pounds of potatoes, about a pound of kale... so a kilo and a half and half a kilo respectively). When everything was done I mashed it roughly together (so left it lumpy) with plenty of butter, heavy cream, salt and pepper. In retrospect I'd mash the potatoes and stir in the kale (I had fun getting it off the potato masher) but it's definitely on the repeat list. It was also delicious the next couple days formed into cakes and saut馥d gently until browned on both sides. I served it with corned beef.

The day before that was St. Urho's day (a Minnesota Finn version of St. Patrick). I made mojakka (a beef roast braised until falling apart with root vegetables, seasoned with salt, pepper and a hint of nutmeg with the cooking liquid thickened to gravy with a flour slurry), nisu/pulla (cardamom bread, reminiscent of hot cross buns or challah), lanttulaattikko (turnip casserole) and raparperikiisseli (rhubarb sauce). I used the allrecipies recipe for cardamom bread, a recipe for the turnips can be found here (note, even though swedes usually refer to rutabaga the term is used interchangeably for rutabaga and turnips and this is definitely turnips) http://www.kotikokki...Lanttulaatikko/ and rhubarb sauce is simply simmering roughly equal parts rhubarb and sugar in half as much water until tender and reduced a little, then adding a teaspoon or so of potato starch if it's watery until it's about the consistency of a cream soup. Many people add strawberries. I detest strawberries and rhubarb together. For me the addition of strawberries makes it taste like chewing on aluminum foil.

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. --Herm Albright

1. In a large saucepan, cook cabbage in small amount of water until done, about 5 minutes. Drain, remove cabbage and set aside.
2. In same pan, sauté bacon and onion until soft, add ham, and cook until heated through.
3. Stir in butter, then add the cooked cabbage.
4. Mix in potatoes and stir well. Season with paprika, salt and pepper.
5. Cook for additional 15 minutes without stirring, so that the edges and underside are browned but not stuck.
6. Serve piping hot.

Simmer the squash, scallions, honey and oil in the water in a large covered pot for 30 minutes or until the squash is tender. Cool slightly, and mash or puree. Add the dill and Coltsfoot ashes/sea salt. Return to heat and simmer another 5 minutes. Add more water to thin if desired. Serve either hot or cold with garnishes.

We had tacos tonight. I usually use a Mccormick packet or reasonable facsimile thereof but we don't have any right now so we used the America's Test Kitchen recipe (I'd type it out but they're proprietary and I don't want to get anyone in trouble including me for copyright violations). It was pretty good. We build them with cheese, a bunch of dark, leafy greens and taco sauce.

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. --Herm Albright

I always get the Zuppa Toscano from Olive Garden, although we rarely go there any more. last few times the food just seemed off and caused some tummy distress. Last night was homemade fajitas with a bunch of corn ears and beer.

You guise, I just made deliciousness. I haven't really cooked this last week because I had a flare of some stupid chronic thing I have and the treatment makes me tired and not hungry (no, I'm fine and I have one day left on the meds). But I'm tired of eating convenience food.

I made some rice (two cups raw). While that was going I diced a couple giant bell peppers, a few mushrooms, a couple summer squash, a couple onions and a few cloves of garlic. I sweated that down and put it aside.

Then I browned hamburger with a couple tablespoons chili powder, a tablespoon of oregano, a couple tablespoons cumin seed, a couple tablespoons cumin, a couple tablespoons coriander and a little evil hot chili powder (you're making way over seasoned taco meat because wait for it).

When that was done I added a couple tablespoons brown sugar, a glug of champagne vinegar, half a teaspoon of chicken base, a small can of tomato sauce, and a can of diced tomatoes (so way over seasoned taco meat).

I salted everything as it was cooking (so a little salt and pepper in the rice, a little salt in the vegetables, a little salt browning the meat but no salt because everything was properly salted when I mixed it).

I mixed everything together and put it in two greased casseroles (because that was a LOT of food). One's destined for the freezer. The other I put shredded cheese and popped it in the oven.

I riffed off a recipe that sounded good but super bland that I ran across on the internet. They just used salt and pepper and didn't put mushrooms or zucchini but I throw as much vegetable as I think I can get away with in everything.

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. --Herm Albright

Oatmeal raisin cookies are my favorite. And you can almost convince yourself they're healthy if you use whole wheat flour and molasses and turbinado sugar instead of refined brown sugar so you can eat lots of them. Last time I made some (not the "healthy" way, just normal) I found out you really need to use rolled or steel cut oats. I used Irish oats (a different cut) and while they still tasted good the texture was weird... crumbly and gritty.

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. --Herm Albright

In a large bowl, add tomato ketchup to the meat. Mix the ketchup into the meat,
then add the remaining ingredients. Mix again. Cover bowl and chill for 30 minutes.
Remove wrap and divide meat mixture into ¼ pound portions.

Preheat a large skillet, when the skillet is hot add the oil. Fry burgers until the
internal temperature reads 150°F(beef) or 165°F(turkey)..

Cover pan and remove from heat. Allow the burgers to rest 5 minutes before serving. This allows
the burgers to gently reach 155°F.(beef) or 170°F.(turkey).

* If you don't have pretoasted sesame seeds, please follow these directions on toasting your own. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place sesame seeds in a shallow pan. Bake until golden brown (10 to 15 minutes), shaking pan occasionally for
even color.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ROASTED* ASPARAGUS, WITH ONIONS & PEPPERS

1 bunch of asparagus, rinsed and prepped
1 large Vidalia onion, sliced top to bottom, about a ½" thick
1 large red sweet bell pepper, sliced top to bottom, about a ½" thick
½ cup Parmigiano Reggiano, shredded finely, best bet is use a micro-planer
Sea salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
Olive oil, prepping the baking sheet and for drizzling

Rinse asparagus; snap of the tough ends. Hold the asparagus in one hand and approx.
halfway down the stalk; with the other hand. Hold the cut end between the thumb and
index finger, approx. one inch or so up from the base and bend the stalk until it snaps.
Place the ends in a freezer bag and use for making broth or soup stock.

Place the prepped asparagus, onion and pepper slices on the baking sheet. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper; stir to mix well. Place baking sheet into preheated oven. Bake for 10 minutes and sprinkle with shredded Parmesan; bake for 5 more minutes. Serve immediately.

* PAN-ROASTED METHOD

Heat skillet to medium-high heat; add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. When oil is hot; add half of asparagus to skillet with tips pointed in one direction; add remaining spears with tips pointed in opposite direction. Using tongs, distribute spears evenly (spears will not quite fit into single layer); cover and cook until asparagus is bright green and still crisp, about 5 minutes.

Uncover and increase heat to high; season asparagus with salt and pepper. Cook until spears are tender and well browned along one side, approx. 5 to 7 minutes, using tongs to occasionally move spears from the pans center to it's outer edge. This will ensure that all stalks are evenly browned. Transfer asparagus to a serving dish, top them with shredded Parmesan cheese. Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.